Weiss turned the Weiss Sinanju over in her hand gently, admiring the intricate and detailed design of the white and red Sleeves ace machine. The build quality was superb, as she had already known, and she felt like the repairs she had made to it after Raven's attacks the day prior had probably hampered it.

She did her best to restore it to its original glory, but the rebuilt knee was clearly not as well built as the rest of the kit. At least, to her. It felt a little loose compared to the other leg, which worried her.

Ruby watched her from the side, gathering her own tools to begin rebuilding the Gundam Destiny Scythe. She knew Weiss was relying on that Sinanju, and that it hadn't been upgraded to the specs she had wanted yet. She had the parts from the Sinanju Stein and Sazabi, and she even bought a Nu Gundam for additional pieces and its large beam saber, but at the moment, the Weiss Sinanju remained unmodified.

Weiss tucked the Gunpla into the foam-lined suitcase just as a knock sounded at the door. She looked at Ruby, who shrugged. They weren't expecting company.

Opening the door, she saw a tall, robust elderly man peering down at her from under his long, bushy white beard, most of his face hidden by the hair. His smile was warm and sincere.

"Grandfather!" Weiss exclaimed, taking note of both Winter and Klein flagging the man. She barely had a chance to process the sight before her grandfather pulled her into a giant hug, holding her against his large frame.

"Weiss, my dear granddaughter! It is so good to see you!" He cried out happily, swinging her to the left and right slightly as he enveloped her. "I know it has been less than three weeks, but I have missed you terribly."

"Hiya Grandpa Nik," Ruby greeted the man. Nikolas Schnee had always been exceptionally kind to both Ruby and Yang, and he had grown quite fond of the younger girl in particular. Mainly because of her bright enthusiasm and determination, which she shared with Weiss.

"Ruby, my dear, I'm happy to see you're well!" He replied cheerfully. He released Weiss, who was practically gasping for air, and looked both of them over. "I saw your battle earlier. Quite the extraordinary feat you both pulled off." He gave Weiss a quizzical look. "I trust the damage to your Gunpla can be repaired, yes?"

Weiss shook her head. "Not in time for tomorrow, no. So, I'm going to need to do something that I was hoping to do for the finals-use the Sinanju you gave me."

His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree at the mention of his gift, but the light quickly faded when he saw her distress. "What's wrong? Is something the matter with the Gunpla?"

"No," she replied apprehensively, looking away. She was embarrassed, but her pride wouldn't let it go. "It's just…it's not my Gunpla. I didn't build it, but I need it, all the same. It feels sort of cheap to take something like this and use it for myself."

Nikolas gave her a concerned look. "I'm sorry, Weiss, I didn't know…"

The look on her grandfather's face instantly broke Weiss's heart. She realized what she sounded like. She sounded ungrateful. She hugged him again, tighter than before. "No, Grandfather, I apologize. I didn't mean to sound like I wasn't grateful for the gesture. Honestly, I did. And, it's given me ideas for how to proceed, which is probably even better than the Gunpla itself."

She nuzzled into his chest, before pulling away and looking up at him. "I'm just stressed. My Gyan was totaled beyond repair on that last fight, and so now I have to use the Sinanju. But I can't control it properly yet, and I only have until tomorrow at noon to get the hang of it, before the semi-finals."

Winter gave her sister a sympathetic look, and Nikolas nodded in understanding. Ruby came up before Weiss and put her hand on her shoulder. "But that's why we're meeting Hath in a bit. So you can learn how to pilot it better. He's going to practice with you so that when it's time for our next fight, you can use it perfectly."

Winter cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "Hathaway Novah? The one you fought with today?"

Weiss nodded. "That's right. He said he had just the Gunpla to help Weiss master the Sinanju's speed and weapon-switching abilities. So we're headed there now."

Ruby flashed a glance at Weiss. "You think he might feel a little guilty over wrecking your Gyan?"

Weiss shrugged. She didn't know, but ultimately it didn't matter. What was done was done; all she could do was focus on what to do next.

Ruby, however, had another idea. "I think he wants a good rematch," she stated. "Knowing Hath and his history in the sport, he's always looking for an interesting fight. He's kinda a show off."

Klein gave her a quizzical look. "I wasn't aware you paid such close attention to the young man, Miss Rose."

Weiss and Winter both chuckled at Klein's remark, but it took a moment for Ruby to get what he meant. When she did, though, her face flushed as deep red as her hoodie. "No no!, not like that!" She pulled her hoodie over her head and tugged on it to cover as much of her face as possible. "I meant that he has a unique and interesting way of approaching Gunpla Battle, is all. Oooooh…."

The group shared a short laugh, mostly at Ruby's embarrassed reaction, and Nikolas placed his hand on Weiss's shoulder. He gave her a proud look, one that was full of confidence in her upcoming trials.

"Well, I wish you the best of luck with your training," Nikolas said, encouragement in his voice as he stepped out of the way. "I look forward to the fruit it bears tomorrow!"

"Thank you, Grandfather. It's good to see yoy. I'll see you all at dinner tonight." Weiss nodded and smiled at him, before turning to Ruby. "Let's not keep Hath waiting, Ruby."

"Coming!" Ruby grabbed her backpack and followed Weiss out of the room.

Nikolas watched the two girls hurry down the hotel hallway towards the elevator, reveling in their enthusiasm, before leaning over to his left. "Klein, you did remember to ensure the locket Winter gave Weiss was intact, yes?"

"Of course, Master Nikolas," Klein replied politely.

Winter glanced up at Nikolas. "Grandfather, what is so special about that locket? I know it's a family heirloom, but I don't quite understand why it was so vital for Weiss to have."

Nikolas chuckled. "Nor do I expect you to right now, Winter." He looked over his right shoulder at his granddaughter. "Let's just say that I made a promise to my father to have that locket returned, and Weiss may very well be the perfect person to see that happen."

Winter shifted slightly and was about to lodge a protest, but was cut off by Nikolas clapping her on the back. "Now now! Don't stress yourself about it! Everything will be just fine! Come now, let's get ourselves some lunch!"

"Sir, dinner is only a few hours away…" Klein reminded him, but his words fell on deaf ears as Nikolas walked forward, almost dragging Winter with him down the hall as he grinned and prattled on about wanting to try Japanese cuisine.


Weiss and Ruby made it to the private battle room that Hath had managed to reserve for them. He was waiting outside with Adeline, looking up when he heard the girls approach.

"Heya!" Adeline greeted cheerfully.

"Sorry we're late," Ruby said, slightly out of breath. "Weiss's grandpa caught up with us in our room and we were talking for a little bit."

"No worries." Hathaway pushed off the wall and opened the door. "We just got here, ourselves. Come on." He flashed an excited grin towards them. "I'm excited to try this new machine out."

His charming smile put both girls at ease. Weiss hadn't realized how apprehensive she had been about doing this. After what he had done to her Gyan not even a few hours ago, she had been concerned about what he was about to put her up against.

"We're going to just be battling on the practice settings," he explained as they stepped into the room. "One on one, using a hit point system rather than physical damage. But we can keep going as long as you feel we need to."

Weiss blinked. "I didn't know they had a hit point-based mode."

"It's kinda like how there's the race setting and stuff," Adeline replied. "It's not used much because most people don't find it to be competitive enough. No risk, no reward."

Ruby nodded. "Right, but that's perfect. Even C Grade damage would still do some damage to the Gunpla, but the hit point mode would just be more like a fencing match, where it's more based on just hitting your opponent. Just like a video game."

Weiss looked at the table and nodded, stepping up to the table and withdrawing her Sinanju from the case she held.

"Okay," she said, exhaling lightly. "Let's do this."

The small table started up and Weiss placed the Weiss Sinanju on its launch pad. Like before, Hathaway didn't produce his Gunpla until after the holographic cockpit was in place. She was nervous, because she didn't know what he was going to throw at her.

Ruby and Adeline stood by, sitting at a small table in the corner of the room. Ruby had begun spreading out the spare parts and extra pieces she would need to rebuild the Destiny Scythe, glancing over as both of the contestants launched into what looked like a blank, barren battlefield made of numerous destroyed mobile suits.

Her gaze locked on the other machine, and her eyes grew wide. Hathaway's machine was…odd. White and black, its shape didn't resemble any Gunpla she had ever seen. However, the robot was curled up in a ball, so she couldn't see any truly distinguishing features at the moment while it soared through the air.

Adeline whistled. "Oh. He's using that."

Ruby glanced back at Adeline, confused, but her eyes shifted back to the table before she could say anything, watching Weiss's Sinanju go into a defensive stance with its shield and one sword.

The white and black ball began unfurling as it approached the ground near the Sinanju. And its design was bizarre, to say the least.

It slammed giant, clawed toes into the ground, and its equally sharpened hands came out afterward. The four limbs skidded the machine to a halt, tearing the ground up in the process.

Ruby only somewhat recognized the body design. It was the AMAIM Ghost MK-II, from the series AMAIM Warrior On The Borderline. It was certainly not a Gunpla, that much was certain.

It stood, revealing a thinner torso, more akin to an IBO Gundam Frame, but the sheer size of the model kit meant that it probably came from one of the 1/100 Full Mechanics frames, if indeed it came from one at all.

Its head, however, was not the Ghosts. In fact, it wasn't a mech head at all. It was mounted onto a thin mechanical neck, which was hunched forward a bit as the machine rose.

It wore a long, narrow, intimidating skull-like mask and featured two tusk-like protrusions on the side of its head. The reptilian eyes of the kit the head came from were replaced with a pair of brilliant, malicious yellow standard mech eyes, far larger than a normal Gundam model kit's eyes due to the size and shape of the head.

Ruby's mouth dropped. "Is that…."

The machine reached behind its hips, grabbing a pair of unique beam saber hilts dangling from what would have been where a belt might be held. He ignited them, revealing an emerald green and sky blue beam saber, which he kept at his sides for the moment. The sabers were nearly twice as long as a standard High-Grade weapon, which made them nearly the perfect length to duel with in this instance.

"Let's get started," Hathaway announced. "I'll test your speed and skill with the AMAIM Grievous Ghost."

He raised the Grievous Ghost's arms and spread his legs out, sabers positioned away from his body, ready to quickly sweep up to either intercept or strike.

Ruby was stunned. "He actually turned the AMAIM Ghost Mark II into a General Grievous-inspired design?!"

Adeline leaned on her palm, resting her elbow on the table, and smirked. "He's been working on this for a while. I didn't realize he had finished it, though."

Weiss's eyes narrowed and she gripped her sword tightly in her left hand, her shield angled defensively in her right hand towards Hathaway. She was unfamiliar with Star Wars but she at least understood the reference.

Her back boosters began charging up, and she prepared to rush Hathaway, but was caught off guard by the Grievous Ghost. Hathaway shot forward, crouching low and igniting his own back thrusters. His clawed feet dug into the ground before pushing off, and he sprinted headlong into the Sinanju.

Weiss activated the heated edge of her blade and parried the first blow by his right arm. The blue beam saber swung wildly in an underhand sweep, which she immediately counterattacked once the blade was harmlessly deflected.

Her own sword missed the Ghost entirely as Hath leaned back, displaying his own model kit's incredible flexibility. His left foot came up as he flipped over, landing on his palms and pushing himself backward while kicking the Sinanju. Weiss caught the blow with her shield, and then shield bashed the Ghost.

Hathaway was knocked off balance but used the Grievous Ghost's flexibility to catch himself and springboard back, landing hard on his feet just in time to use both beam sabers to stop a swing from Weiss.

He sidestepped as their blades crashed against one another, and the Sinanju slid past the Grievous Ghost. Hath let her stumble, watching as she took two big steps and tripped from her machine's overwhelming power, landing on her hands and knees.

"Your machine does have a lot of power," he admitted as he turned to face her. "But you're letting it run out of control when you need to be guiding it."

Weiss stood up, sheathing her sword and transforming her shield into a pair of massive physical blades. She turned to face him, a determined scowl etched on her face.

"The Sinanju's power is nothing like your customized Gyan Krieger," Hath continued. "Its speed will overwhelm you if you rely on that alone. Use its powerful thrusters for mobility instead. Make rapid course corrections and keep dodging. Keep me guessing."

The Grievous Ghost raised its twin beam sabers up defensively. She was going to need some practice before she could come at him properly, but this first rush could make or break Weiss's confidence in the strategy.

The Weiss Sinanju began charging, this time with less speed. Despite this, it was still incredibly fast, and Weiss had trouble as she adjusted herself to the first zig-zag maneuver. These were easy to do in the Gyan Noblesse Oblige, but that was a smaller machine with less powerful engines. This Sinanju was, in all honesty, overpowered beyond belief.

She struggled to regain control on the second dash, switching from left to right. Hath watched as her left foot dug into the ground in an attempt to stop her direction, and Weiss eased back on the throttle to make the next direction change.

He stood still, prepared for anything, but lowered his guard as the Sinanju blazed past him, overshooting his position. Weiss skidded to a halt and panted. She had been pulling back on her control orbs so hard that her arms felt like jello. The simulated resistance that the computer generated was far greater than anything she had experienced before.

She got up and turned around once more. Hath remained where he was, watching her.

"I'm still getting the hang of this," Weiss admitted. "Please, be patient. This thing is really powerful."

"I can see that," Hathaway replied evenly. "Don't worry. I don't have anything going on today. We'll keep going until you're done."

Weiss nodded and prepared to go again. "This time I think I'm just going to try and skate around slowly," she said. "I can't even begin to fight if I'm overshooting you like this."

Hathaway deactivated his sabers. "That's fair. I'll join you then. Drop your weapons so you won't have the odd weight throwing you off."

Weiss recombined her swords and did as he suggested. She pulled up her power level monitors and kept a close eye on them as Hath dashed to her side and patiently waited for her to get ready.

Ruby and Adeline watched from the side table as the younger girl worked on her Gunpla. Adeline hadn't been paying much attention to the progress on the Destiny Scythe, but when she looked over at it, the main body was pried open and exposed the complex inner workings.

Her eyes widened. "Is that the gizmo that Hath tried to copy?"

Ruby looked down at the torso of the Destiny Scythe, then nodded. "Yeah, my version of Sei Iroi's RG System. That's the Plavsky Particle Intake system that lets both Yang and I suck in the particles directly from the table to use as power."

She adjusted her glasses and stared at it. "Interesting. And remarkable, really. I don't think anyone has ever thought to essentially create a sort of scramjet for a particle intake system."

Ruby looked up at her. "Oh, no it doesn't work like that at all. It's just like the charged particle cannon intake for the Zoids. It uses a series of turbines to suck in the particles and then once absorbed by the Plavsky plastic pieces on the other side, it stores them in the main core to be used. Suits like Yang's or Sekai's use and emit Plavsky particles naturally, which are first added to the suit when it gets animated, and basically keeps leaking the particles out to do their moves, much like the GN particles from solar furnaces."

She picked up the open torso and pointed to the turbines. "My version of the RG System recycles the released particles either from the table or from other Gunpla and turns it into energy for us to use. It basically provides an infinite power supply so long as the table is active, unlike many Gunpla who can wind up using their stored particles up through fuel or power usage, and eventually becoming inert."

"Like what happened with Pyrrha and Jack in our fight," Adeline noted. "Gotcha. Pretty handy. How'd you come up with it?"

"After my fight with Yang in the Northwest Regionals, I devised a system for her based on Sekai's Burning Burst mode, after watching his fights over and over again since he entered Gunpla Battle." Ruby smiled proudly at her work. "Combine that with the research I had been doing on how to create an absorbing system like what Sekai uses to power his Star Build Strike variants, and it seemed like a natural progression to combine the two. The result means it's less powerful than true Radial General Purpose System Gunpla like the Build Strike Galaxy Cosmos but can operate for an infinite amount of time, provided the turbines aren't damaged. After the first match against Kyrus and Io Alexander, I added it to my Gunpla, too."

Adeline tilted her head slightly. "You weren't using this before that fight?"

Ruby shook her head. "I wanted Yang to have a unique thing, but I realized I was holding myself back. And, it was my system, to begin with, so why not use it myself? I just have a different use for it than Yang does, but the intake principle is the same."

Adeline looked back at Hath and Weiss, who was gently trying to skate around the battlefield. Her memories of how things were as a kid compared with how they were now. "Gunpla Battle really has changed since we were little," she mused. "Hard to believe it's the same sport."

Ruby looked at her. "Well, it brings people together. We're all having fun. And that means we're all going to keep improving."

"You're right," Adeline said, nodding in agreement. "You're absolutely right."

Ruby looked at Weiss. She watched the Sinanju move, seeing that Weiss was getting used to the power of the machine. Her hovering was steadier than it had been, and her control seemed to have become more fine tuned as she worked out the kinks and unique power of the Gunpla.

Hathaway was skirting backward, facing her, encouraging Weiss as she practiced. His control was perfect. The Grievous Ghost looked as if it were a figure skater teaching a newcomer, but that newcomer was rapidly improving.

"These calf thrusters really throw me off," Weiss commented, looking over her speed and acceleration. "I've piloted a Sinanju before but this one is really strange. I think it's thrusters on its legs are a little larger and a lot more powerful."

Hathaway zoomed in on the left calf thruster. "The parts are metal," he noted. "Have you ever had a mode with metal parts?"

"Not thruster nozzles," she admitted. "Myrtenaster, my rapier, was partially metal for durability, but I've never used metal pins or thruster nozzles."

The Grievous Ghost stopped and landed gently. "Well, those nozzles are going to give your acceleration and overall thruster output a massive boost," he explained. "As you've seen, it makes a difference."

Weiss pushed the control orbs forward slightly and took note of the increased power and decreased control. She felt like she was learning Gunpla Battle all over again.

The feeling of the enhanced motion was exciting. She wanted to get better at this. "Okay. Let's keep going."


Hathaway and Weiss continued practicing for several hours. With each passing second, the Sinanju was slowly coming under her control, and Hathaway watched and coached. Weiss didn't need much coaching, though; her muscle memory and reflexes were superb, it was learning the machine's power and learning not to fight with it that she was working on.

Ruby continued picking away at building the new parts for the Destiny Scythe in the meantime. Adeline had needed to leave, which let Ruby focus. Her parts were mostly completed now, but she'd need to paint and detail them back in her room.

Weiss was soaring through the air, fully confident now. The Weiss Sinanju was almost completely under her control, and now she was just working on the timing on when to stop her thruster output so she could change course easier.

Hath watched, pleased, glad to have been able to assist her as she dashed low along the ground and then shot up, climbing into the clouds. She darted to the left and came swooping down, swinging her feet down and putting all power into slowing her descent enough to land hard in the soft soil of the simulated battlefield, next to her discarded weapons.

The Sinanju picked up its shield and transformed it back into the twin longswords. "I think I'm ready."

Hathaway withdrew his twin beam sabers and ignited both the blue and green blades, spreading his legs and lowering himself into a defensive stance. "I see. Well, if you feel like you can do this, then let's see how powerful that machine truly is."

The Sinanju charged a moment later, crashing into the Grievous Ghost with a ferocious attack. The impact took the kitbashed model kit off its feet, but Hathaway dug its claws into the ground and skidded to a halt, using his own thrusters to push back.

The two models reached a stalemate, but only for a few seconds. Weiss backed off and darted to the side, before charging again. Hathaway met her swing with an upward strike from his right saber, catching the attack and deflecting the heated physical blade away from him.

He thrust with his left saber, but Weiss pirouetted to his left, spinning on her toe before striking with her left blade. Hath took a step back and leaned to the side to avoid the blade, jumping back to dodge a second strike from her right blade.

He landed and rushed her, putting Weiss on the defensive. She slammed her swords together to reform the shield, intercepting the double saber thrust.

Hathaway's sabers made no headway. He was impressed-the design and creation of that transforming shield, capable of withstanding constant contact with two beam sabers, was not something he had been used to dealing with.

"Damn," he muttered excitedly, nodding. "Alright. Nicely done. You really have mastered that Gunpla's power."

He grinned, clicking his control orbs and cycling them over. "But let's test your finesse now."

His arms split in half, flipping small sub-arm hands out from between the newly separated forearms, and those reached back to grab two additional sabers. Weiss gasped and immediately withdrew as two more beam blades attempted to bisect her.

Hathaway twisted his top sabers over as his lower sabers angled downward. The four-armed machine stared down the Sinanju, lowering itself down to confront its target.

"Four arms?!" Weiss exclaimed as she drew the single sword from the shield. "How the hell-"

"It wouldn't be a true General Grievous if I didn't include the ability to use four lightsabers," Hath interrupted, clearly proud of his creation.

Weiss groaned, focusing on her opponent. Four sabers meant four times the attack angles.

She opened fire with her Vulcans, hoping the nearly invisible bullets would be impossible for him to block compared to beam attacks. But to her horror, the top arms of the Grievous Ghost moved forward and the hands began to spin, turning the area in front of him into a wall of blue and green light as his blades helicoptered in front of him. He walked forward slowly, advancing on her, allowing the beam sabers to stop every single round.

He planted his right foot down and used it to jump into the air. Weiss ceased fire and raised her shield up, catching the Ghost as he tried to pull the same kind of kick Jim had used against her in the tournament. The claws on Hathaway's feet skittered across the shield, holding him back.

Weiss raised her sword up and stopped a downward strike from both of Hath's top sabers, before pushing him away with both her sword and shield. He backflipped in the air, deactivating his sabers in the process, and landed on his hands and feet, crouching like an insect.

Pushing off the ground, he rushed her again. His two top sabers thrust forward, so Weiss caught them with her blade and stopped them, raising her right arm so her shield could block the bottom sabers from slashing at her. She pushed back against the Grievous Ghost and swung her own sword down, turning as she missed and swinging her massive shield around as she moved to shield bash, Hathaway.

The Grievous Ghost stumbled but took a step back and steadied itself in time to block a follow-up strike with its lower sabers, keeping its narrow torso protected. He reared back and thrust both left sabers at her, which she deflected with her shield, opening fire once more with her Vulcans.

He spun his lower right saber and again blocked her shots, waiting until she had ceased firing in order to swing his top right saber right at her head. The green blade hit the antenna of the Sinanju but, since the mode was set for health and not damage, didn't break it.

Weiss charged him, tackling him in a shield charge, knocking him back. He dug into the ground once again and swung his left saber at her, but she caught it with her sword as she slammed it down into his weapon, then twisted to disarm him.

Hathaway swung both right sabers in a sweeping arc that forced Weiss to back up a bit. He kept going and deactivated his right sabers, hand standing on both right arms and reaching up into the sky with his left foot to catch his dislodged saber mid-air. He ignited it and swung forward, bringing his left leg down in a brutally quick kick that was topped off by the beam saber.

Weiss caught the blade with her shield, managing to avoid a direct strike. She quickly realized that her legs were open, however, and boosted backward to avoid the swing from sabers now level with her knees, allowing Hath to follow through and regain his footing, reaching down and grabbing the saber from his foot with the hand it had come from.

Weiss panted as she stood and watched Hathaway, trying to figure this out. His machine was incredible, capable of using its feet as hands and rotating itself around in a way that made motions and strikes almost unpredictable. And trying to keep up with four incoming attacks at once was daunting and tiring.

She roared and charged him, swinging her saber down hard on his position. She missed entirely as he sidestepped her attack, and was caught off guard as his foot raised and connected with her chest, kicking the Sinanju square in the midsection and knocking her backward, where she landed hard on the ground and skidded to a halt.

She looked up in time to see the blue and green beams of energy come crashing down on her, all four of them piercing her chest, ending the fight.

She stared at the monitor until it dematerialized and the room returned to normal. Stunned, she took a few moments to process what had happened.

And then smiled.

Hath wiggled his eyebrows. "I see you have a twinkle in your eyes," he noted. "I take it that that fight gave you the satisfaction you were looking for?"

She nodded. "Yes. It did. And it showed me that I COULD master this Gunpla. That was an incredible match, even if it was a bit short."

"If you want more practice, I'm happy to oblige," he replied, but she shook her head.

Weiss gathered her Gunpla up off the table. "Perhaps later. I want a rematch against that machine. For now, though, I have precious little time to modify the Weiss Sinanju into something that is my own."

She turned to Ruby. "Ruby, if you're ready to go…"

Ruby perked up. "Oh! Right! Coming! Let me just pack up."

Weiss looked back at Hathaway and bowed politely. "Thank you, once again. I really appreciate this."

Hath blinked, then rubbed the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. "Ah, don't think anything of it. I had fun, too. And I'll keep the Grievous Ghost on standby for that rematch."

Weiss nodded enthusiastically and then headed for the door, Ruby jogging and meeting her in the hall. "Bye Hath! See ya later!" She called out, which made the young man smile and nod.


The process of converting the Weiss Sinanju into the ideal Gunpla partner was tricky. Weiss herself lacked the skill needed to keep the machine at its current level of performance. But as it stood, she couldn't just piggyback off of that build quality-if something happened in the next few rounds, she wouldn't be able to return it to its current level, either.

She looked over the Sinanju Stein, Nu Gundam, and Sazabi pieces she had in their storage case. Figuring out how to give her the edge in a fight would ultimately come down to how she could actually incorporate these Gunpla into her current idea.

The Nu Gundam was almost completely incompatible with her vision, save for its main beam saber, which Weiss intended to use. The Sinanju Stein's rifle was going to be important; the lack of any ranged weapons could be a problem.

She intended to build a larger Myrtnaster, like what she did for the Gyan Noblesse Oblige, but getting that to work with the shape-shifting nature of the shield was going to be almost impossible without some kind of miracle.

She set down her nippers and sighed. She wished she had some way of looking this over in a computer simulation or having someone who knew what they were doing help. Ruby was out with her uncle at the moment, and most of the others wouldn't be available at nine-thirty at night.

Nikolas watched his granddaughter intently. He stroked his beard, trying to think of a way to help her. He had no idea how to build or maintain Gunpla, and he lacked the skill to assist her.

But, he knew someone who did.

"Weiss."

The teen looked at her grandfather. "Yes?"

"The locket you received. Do you have it with you?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow, but nodded, reaching below her shirt's neckline and pulling out the trinket Winter and Klein had given her.

"Make a wish."

Her blue eyes locked with his. "What?"

He returned her gaze in earnest. "Trust me."

She scowled. "Grandfather, miracles don't just happen because we wish it."

He smiled gently at her. "You want your Gunpla done, correct?"

She nodded.

"Then wish it to be so, with every fiber of your being."

Her scowl deepened, but she said nothing. Closing her eyes, she grasped her Gunpla and its parts in the container and thought hard about what kind of thing she wanted. What she wished her Gunpla to become. And she wished she could find someone she could trust to show her how to make it a reality.

The door to Nikolas's hotel room opened to the room and Ruby and Qrow stepped inside. "Weiss! We're home!" She called out, but once inside she saw only Nikolas, sitting in a chair across from the coffee table.

"Where's Weiss?" She asked, confused. "We came to get her to head back to our room."

Nikolas chuckled. "Oh, don't worry about her. She got a sudden rush of inspiration and was spirited away to go finish her Gunpla. You're most certainly going to see her again tomorrow. But she has a long night ahead of her, before the tournament tomorrow at noon."

Qrow's eyes narrowed. The way he spoke sounded…odd. His word choice was extremely selective. Something happened. He was sure of it.

Ruby gave him a sad look and nodded. "Oh, okay. Well, if she comes back, tell her to text me and we'll come to get her."

"I will."

The two left, letting Nikolas sit back and think. The old man looked up at the ceiling, a grin on his face. "Good luck, Weiss."